Google has announced a new strategic initiative to develop
electricity from renewable energy sources in order to obtain energy cheaper than that produced from coal. As energy prices and carbon dioxide
emissions continue to rise, Google is setting both an environmental and
economic example by investing their capital to secure their business and their
community. The ambitious program is called “RE<C” or (Renewable Energy Cheaper
than Coal) and aims to demonstrate that large scale renewable energy installations
are cheaper than coal. Larry Page, co-founder of Google says: "With
talented technologists, great partners and significant investments, we hope to
rapidly push forward. Our goal is to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy
capacity that is cheaper than coal. We are optimistic this can be done in
years, not decades." (One gigawatt can power a city the size of San Francisco.) Presently, Google is working with two companies
that have promising scalable energy technologies:

eSolar Inc., a Pasadena, CA-based company specializing in
solar thermal power which replaces the fuel in a traditional power plant with
heat produced from solar energy. eSolar's technology has great potential
to produce utility-scale power cheaper than coal. For more information, please
visit http://www.google.com/corporate/green/energy/esolar.pdf.

Makani Power Inc., an Alameda, CA-based company developing
high-altitude wind energy extraction technologies aimed at harnessing the most
powerful wind resources. High-altitude wind energy has the potential to
satisfy a significant portion of current global electricity needs. For more
information on Makani Power, please visit http://www.google.com/corporate/green/energy/makani.pdf.

Click here
to read the Google Press Release related to this exciting initiative.